The circumstances surrounding the disappearance of a yacht owned by a sanctioned Russian oligarch from a marina on the island of Murter are still under investigation, Minister of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Oleg Butkovic said on Monday, adding that the State Attorney's Office and the Security and Intelligence Agency are involved in the investigation. Pročitaj više

The yacht Irina VU, docked in the marina in Betina on the island of Murter, was under the sanctions of the European Union, the United States and the United Kingdom as part of the property of Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We are still establishing the circumstances of the yacht’s disappearance. We know that it disappeared under still unclear circumstances. How it happened and whether there were any omissions in the system itself will be investigated by the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure. Also included in the investigation are the Security and Intelligence Agency, the State Attorney’s Office, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, which sealed the yacht,” Butkovic said in response to questions from the press during a visit to the central Adriatic town of Nin.

Asked who was responsible and why no one had reacted for months, Butkovic said that everyone aware of this situation was responsible. “We will see, I can’t point the finger at anyone until I have all the information.”

Media outlets have reported that the yacht was mysteriously stolen under cover of night three months ago and almost the same kind of yacht docked in the marina. The Irina VU is now anchored in Didim on the Turkish Aegean coast.